


Language Barrier

by vivific



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Multi, look at my precious bi/pan/poly children!!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-15 21:12:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7238662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivific/pseuds/vivific
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lila is a polyglot. Adrien knows Mandarin Chinese. Marinette is hopelessly lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Language Barrier

**Author's Note:**

> Yooooo guess who gets to pretend they know Chinese? This whitewashed af child lol
> 
> (Translations at the bottom)
> 
>  
> 
> [Check me out on tumblr for more stuff on writing, including wips and previews.](http://vivifics.tumblr.com/)

Marinette knew that Lila was a polyglot. It was a coin toss whether or not the girl would default to Italian or English, but she certainly wasn't monolingual by any standard.

Now, she also knew that Adrien spoke Mandarin Chinese. He had helped her communicate with her great uncle (until they both realized that, oops, he spoke French anyway).

Somehow it hadn't occurred to her that maybe, just maybe, her boyfriend and girlfriend shared a common language that she didn't know.

They were out for lunch, the three of them of course. Nino and Alya were off elsewhere on their own date, so it left the three of them to relax at McDonalds.

Because Lila liked fries too much. And Adrien had quickly gotten addicted to fast food.

Marinette didn't blame them.

So the three of them sat at a table; Marinette and Lila on one side, and Adrien on the other. It changed habitually, but as far as Marinette found, they were all happy with their relationship.

Adrien loved Marinette loved Lila loved Marinette loved Adrien loved Lila.

A perfect triangle.

"So are you doing anything after school?" Lila asked. "I was thinking we could all head out to the mall for a bit. There's a sale on."

"Sorry," Adrien looked sheepish. "I have Chinese lessons, actually."

Lila blinked. Then it was as though a lightbulb had gone off in her head.

"你说中文？"

Marinette blinked at the rush of syllables. What now?

Adrien took a second to understand.

"啊？你也说吗？"

They burst into laughter, and Marinette stared puzzled between them.

Amazing. Both her girlfriend and her boyfriend spoke Mandarin, when _she_ was the one with the Chinese ancestry.

(It was a long and complicated story for why she hadn't learned her mother's native tongue. It went hand-in-hand with the years of wondering why she didn't look European.)

"You have got to be kidding me..." She murmured into her fries.

Lila giggled. "We could teach you together, you know?"

The wink she gave ruined the genuineness of the offer. Adrien looked caught between grinning with the suggestion and blushing as well.

Marinette hid her face in her elbows, ears twitching as Lila continued laughing.

"你们真是太可爱了！"

"她比我更可爱呢。"

"哎呀，你不是模特吗？"

"你是想说玛丽没有我可爱吗？"

"你是帅哥，她是可爱。"

"呢你呢？"

"我就是美女咯！"

"Can we please go back to French?" Marinette pleaded, eyes wide between the two. She couldn't understand a word they were saying, but swore she caught her name somewhere in the conversation.

Adrien smiled reassuringly at her.

"We were just saying how cute you are!" Lila slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. "Apparently model boy here is the handsome dude, I'm the hot girl and you're the cute one."

Marinette murmured to herself and turned away as Lila looked expectantly at her.

"What was that, Marinette?" Adrien was grinning and so was Lila and _god damn it_.

"I said I could be hot if I wanted to."

"You could," Lila said, "but then Adrien and I would have to beat the fans off of you."

"People find Ladybug hot."

"Unfortunately," Adrien muttered.

"I thought _I_ was supposed to be the jealous one," Lila raised an eyebrow.

"You guys," Marinette's face was on fire.

Why were her lovers so embarrassing at times?

* * *

Over the course of the next few weeks, Marinette found herself downloading an online translator because Adrien and Lila needed to stop talking in Mandarin around her.

Not that it helped very much.

"哇，你看到科学老师的头发今天吗？"

"我听到有一个二年级的学生着火了。"

"果然是二年级的学生。一点都不－"

Marinette screamed and slammed her head into the table, eliciting a rather shocked look from her datemates.

"Marinette?" Adrien began slowly.

"Please," Marinette practically begged. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know that deuxième année who started a fire in Chemistry?"

Marinette nodded mutely.

"Yeah, we were talking about that."

"That's all?"

A silent nod.

Marinette let her head hit the table again. She grumbled.

"Marinette?"

"Can you guys please help me with Mandarin?"

Lila and Adrien shared a look. Adrien broke first. With a sigh, he pulled out his wallet and handed over five euros.

Lila accepted it with a grin.

Marinette blinked as the two nodded in sync.

"You- You were betting on how long it would take for me to ask you for lessons?!"

"You really are too cute, Mari," Lila gushed, her hands on either side of her face.

Adrien, at least, had the grace to look sheepish.

"You're both horrible influences."

"But you love us~" Lila sang, standing and coming over to Marinette's side of the table. Adrien mimicked her and the two enveloped the annoyed girl with a hug.

Marinette sighed.

"Yeah. Yeah I do."

Lila cheered and kissed her on the cheek, Adrien on the other.

Marinette felt her blush intensify.

God, they were still in public!

Her lovers really had no shame, did they?

**Author's Note:**

> "你说中文？" -> "You speak Chinese?"
> 
> "啊？你也说吗？" -> "What? You too?"
> 
> "你们真是太可爱了！" -> "You're both too cute!"
> 
> "她比我更可爱呢。" -> "She's cuter than I am."
> 
> "哎呀，你不是模特吗？" -> "Ugh, aren't you the model?"
> 
> "你是想说玛丽没有我可爱吗？" -> "Are you trying to say that Marinette isn't cuter than me?"
> 
> "你是帅哥，她是可爱。" -> "You're the handsome guy, she's cute."  
> ->> Translation note: 帅哥 literally translates into "handsome brother". Brother is a sort of term of referral in Chinese, not a literal familial thing. 
> 
> "呢你呢？" -> "Then you are?"
> 
> "我就是美女咯!" -> "I'm obviously the beautiful one!"  
> ->> Godddd okay 美女 is just a term for a beautiful woman, or a hot woman, etc. 
> 
> "哇，你看到科学老师的头发今天吗？" -> "Whoa, did you see the Science teacher's hair today?"
> 
> "我听到有一个二年级的学生着火了。" -> "I heard one of the second year students started a fire."
> 
> "果然是二年级的学生。一点都不－" -> "Of course it's a second year student. They have no sense of safety."  
> ->> Word of advice: Chinese syntax is weird. Good luck with it.


End file.
